Recommendations and ingredients we have used

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Ingredients we have used:

Columela Extra Virgin Olive Oil From Spain
This is a pretty good finishing and tasting extra virgin olive oil. Too expensive to cook with, it is something meant to be tasted.
Alessi – Fine Mediterranean Sea Salt
This is the sea salt that I usually buy to cook with.
Grains of Paradise
Alton Brown turned me on to this spice in his lentil soup recipe. It has a bit of a lemony black pepper taste and was once a really popular spice. I like using it along with or to replace black pepper, and is a good finishing spice.
Kaniwa
A cousin of quinoa, I like to use multiple grains for a rainbow of colors and nutrition.
Quinoa
It is the popular grain these days, and I love cooking with it and putting it in my chilis and soups.
Amaranth
Another one of those multiple rainbow grains I use. It is really popular in the latin world, and they use it in all kinds of things including sweets.
Aji Amarillo paste
If you can find fresh grown ahi amarillos, use them but for the most part you will be using these, they are popular in Peru, and have a sweet flavor to them with a medium ammount of kick. A really well balanced pepper.
Soy sauce powder
Dehydrated soy sauce, great to add an unami flavor to something when you don’t want to add a bunch of liquid that would be in soy sauce, also a great salty substitute.
Nutritional Yeast Flakes
Also known as “noosh”. This will add a wonderful cheesyness to dishes and cats love it too. Bonus is it has a lot of B vitamins in it as well.
Vegan sugar
The only sugar I use, comes from Florida and has a great flavor to it as well.
Vanilla
It is a great tasting vanilla.
TVP
These granules will help you achieve that ground beef flavor and texture that you can use in so many things.
Dried orange peel
Making orange tofu? You need these!
Szechuan Pepper
These little heathens should be used sparingly in your Chinese dishes, They will numb your mouth, as in novicaine.
Vital Wheat Gluten
This is the ingredient that makes seitan. If you want to make your own fake meat yourself, this is what you need.
Saffron
Tasty and makes your food yellow.
Spanish Paprika
When making Spanish food, this is a staple.
Organic Smoked Paprika Powder
I like using this when you are looking for that bbq flavor, especially when the dish is traditionally cooked over a wooden fire like Paella.
Assorted Spanish olives
I like my olives assorted.
Capers
You should be able to find capers in the store, but why not let Amazon send it to you?
Ener-G Egg Replacer
For your baking needs, one of the ways you can use a vegan egg.
Saigon cinnamon
Part 1 of my 2 part cinnamon mixture.
Ceylon cinnamon
Part 2 of my 2 part cinnamon mixture.
Yellow Moong Dal
A great dal that is used in Indian and Nepalese foods. The recipe I used it for was for a Nepalese dish. And protein, hello?
Maesri Masaman Curry Paste
Maesri doesn’t put fish sauce in her curry pastes. Buy her brand.
Sweetned Condensed Coconut Milk
This product is so good! You need this when making things like pies and macaroons.
Paellera
Making paella? This is the pan you need!
Bomba rice
Making paella? This is the rice you need!
NO chicken base
If you want to add a bit of flavor to your dish but you don’t want to boil down a bunch of vegetable stock, a teaspoon or two of this is what you need. An ingredient that the professionals use daily when making their foods, especially at the saute station.
Agar agar
Agar agar is a good cold thickening agent, and can be used in place of egg whites.

Tools and equipment I use and reccommend:

This is the perfect immersion blender:

Yes, I know it is big and bulky, and a lot more expensive than those home ones, but those home ones will wear out or break after a couple of uses. Trust me, you want a professional one, expecially if you make a lot of creamy soups.

Knives:

This is a complete Victorinox knife set with a wooden block
If you want to piece your knife set together:
Knife bag to protect your knives when not in use
Victorinox 8 inch chef knife
Victorinox 10 inch honing steel
Victorinox bread knife
Victorinox paring knife
Victorinox serrated utility knife
This is the cutting board I have. It is 15×20 (38x50cm) which is right in the middle of being too small and too big.
Medium cutting board
If you would like a slightly smaller cutting board then this may be an option. It is 12×18 (30x46cm)
Small cutting board
thermometer


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